Important information

Course programme

Course Structure

Unit ‑I Basic Principles of Research: (a) Preparation of Synopsis. (b) Collection of Data and Material. (c) Primary and Secondary Sources. (d) Analysis of Data and Material. (e) Quotations and References, their use.Unit ‑II Nature & Fundamental Principles of research: (a) Problems of method: Survey, Interview & Questionnaire. (b) Problems of Interpretation. (c) Problems of Editing. (d) Textual Criticism.Section ‑BUnit III Introduction to Linguistics (a) Linguistics: the Scientific Study of Language (definition of linguistics; what is “scientific”?; what is “studying” a language?) (b) Traditional approach to linguistics; the structural approach to linguistics; the cognitive approach to linguistics; modern trends in linguistics. (c) Phonetics and phonology; morphology; syntax; meaning. (d) Social, psychological and applied perspectives.Unit‑IV Elementary Phonetics (a) Need for learning English pronunciation; model for Indian learners of English; Indian and British (RP) varieties of English. (b) Phonetic transcription. (c) English syllable and its structure; word accent and rhythm in English; use of weak forms; intonation patterns of spoken English. (d) Sound segments of English: their production and classification; sound clusters.Section‑CUnit‑V Modern English Grammar and Usage (a) What is grammar?; Usage: acceptability and grammaticality. (b) Word study; the basic sentence – patterns; non-basic sentences (interrogatives, negatives, passives, complex sentences); embedding and conjoining. (c) The Verbal (main verb & auxiliaries; tense aspect, voice; modals: their meanings; multiword verbs. The Noun Phrase (the basic noun phrase; pre- and post-modifiers ; determiners, article features; pronouns and case; relative clauses and other post-modifiers. The Relationals (Adjective Phrase; adverb phrase; intensifiers; prepositional phrase). (d) Grammar, Phonology and Meaning: Proposition, clause and tone group; theme and focus; passivization and clefting..Note: Examiners may kindly note that only an elementary knowledge of the above topics is required, as candidates are only introduced to these ideas in the M.Phil. English coursePaper IIIndian and Western Literary Theories, Movement & IdeologiesNotes: 1. Two questions will be asked from each Unit, from which candidates will have to attempt one (five questions in all). 2. Examiners may kindly note that only an elementary knowledge of the above topics is required, as candidates are only introduced to these ideas in the M.Phil. English course.

Unit I Introduction to the basic concepts of the following Indian (Sanskrit) critical schools. (a) Rasa with reference to Bharata's Natyasastra. (b) Dhvani, with reference to Anandavardhana's Dhvanyaloka. (c) Alamkara, with reference to Bhamaha's Kavyalamkara. (d) Vakrokti, with reference to Kuntak.Unit II Western Literary Movements: (a) Classicism and Neo ‑Classicism. (b) Renaissance and Enlightenment Humanism. (c) Romanticism. (d) Realism and Naturalism.Unit III Twentieth‑Century Western Critical Schools (a) New Criticism (b) Myth Criticism (c) Deconstruction (d) Reader‑Response CriticismUnit IV Twentieth‑Century Ideologies (a) Existentialism (b) Marxism (c) Feminism (d) PostcolonialismUnit V Twentieth‑Century Literary Phenomena (a) Modernism and Postmodernism. (b) The Anti-Hero. (c) Theatre of the Absurd. (d) New Historicism & Cultural Materialism.Paper - IIIAuthors For Special Study Max. Marks : 100 Candidates will have to choose one of the following authors for special study. Ten questions, two from each Unit, will be asked, and candidates will be required to attempt one question from each unit - in all five. No passages for explanation will be asked. (A) T.S. Eliot (B) Amitav Ghosh (C) Margaret Atwood(A)Author For Special Study : T.S. Eliot(B)Unit I : Poems - "Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" The Waste Land.Unit II : Poems - Ash Wednesday Four Quartets

Unit I Novels - The Circle of Reason The Shadow LinesUnit II Novels - The Calcutta Chromosome The Glass PalaceUnit III Social commentary and fiction - CountdownThe Hungry Tide, with “A Crocodile in the Swamplands” (Outlook, Oct 18, 2004) and “The Tsunami of December 2004” (from Amitav Ghosh’s website)Unit IV Travelogues - In an Antique Land Dancing in Cambodia, at Large in BurmaUnit V Essays The Imam and the Indian: “The Ghosts of Mrs Gandhi” “Empire and Soul: a review of The Baburnama” “The Diaspora in Indian Culture”“The March of the Novel through History: the Testimony of my Grandfather’s Bookcase”“ ‘The Ghat of the only World’: Agha Shahid Ali in Brooklyn”“The Hunger of Stones”(C) Author for Special Study MARGARET ATWOOD